Second Round at the Grand Prix of San Marino, Imola (I)
-------------------------------------------------------

Collard wins - France takes lead in Nations' Competition

Emmanuel Collard is the winner of this weekend's round of the
Porsche Pirelli SuperCup. The victory of this second out of nine
races completed a perfect weekend of the young Formula One test driver.
He rocketed his JMP Competition Porsche 911 to fastest qualifying time
(1:59.600), to the fastest race lap (2:00.945) and to this win, which
puts him in the lead in the drivers' standings. Collard: "I didn't
attack very hard, conserved my tyres and brakes, and waited for the
others to make mistakes. It worked." Emmanuel had started from fifth
place which he drew in yesterday's Grid Lottery among the six fastest
from qualifying. Until the end of the eighth lap, Imola saw a repetition
of the duel between Collard and the winner of the first race at Nurburg-
ring, German Ralf Kelleners (Porsche Zentrum Koblenz). Kelleners kept
the lead until he overshot the chicane before the finish straight with
braking problems. Kelleners:"It was a tough and fair duel with Emmanuel.
It's a shame I couldn't offer him more resistance." The race of the
unassuming man from the city of Dinslaken ended in fifth place.

Jean-Pierre Malcher (F, Larbre Competition) utilising all the routine of
the reigning champion, kept away from the turmoil of the opening laps
and came home third, just ahead of Porsche Pirelli SuperCup rookie,
Oliver Mathai (D, Manthey Racing). The 28 year old, who took up the
sprint from sixth starting place: "I had a very poor start, losing lots
of places. But then I bit into the steering wheel. Last night we worked
and got rid of our understeer. A very worthwile nightshift." Last year's
runner up Juergen von Gartzen was not happy with his fourth in the
finish: "There's a lot of testing work ahead of us if we want to keep
the pace of our competitors. But we'll be back in Monaco in two weeks."

VIP driver Loris Reggiani was enthusiastic about his race: "!3th in the
finish with my old starting number 13, may be 100,000 of my Italian
compatriots at the track - that's an experience! I had a few duels, and
I won them all. But I think I was too brutal with my tyres, I went
sideways a lot. It was big, big fun." Double World Rally Champion Miki
Biasion in VIP car number one finished his race with technical trouble
after having fought on tenth place during the opening laps. The man
from Bassano del Grappa took it philosophically: "I'm happy. There are
not so many people who get the chance to drive such a sports car on the
race track in this wonderful setting."

Round three of the Porsche Pirelli SuperCup: 19 May, GP Monaco.

RACE RESULT:

Pos     Driver                  Team                            Time
---------------------------------------------------------------------
 1      Emmanuel Collard/F      JMB Competition             24:32.261
 2      Jean Pierre Malcher/F   Larbre Competition            +10.266
 3      Oliver Mathai/D         Manthey Racing                 14.836
 4      Juergen von Gartzen/D   Oberbayern Motorsport          16.313
 5      Ralf Kelleners/D        Porsche Zentrum Koblenz        16.882
 6      Patrick Simon/D         Porsche Zentrum Koblenz        18.096
 7      M. Galimberti/I         Knuepfing Motorsport           23.866
 8      Patrick Huisman/NL      Oberbayern Motorsport          32.580
 9      Harald Becker/D         Knuepfing Motorsport           42.242
10      J. Leconte/F            Larbre Competition             49.404


CHAMPIONSHIP:

Pos     Driver                  Pts
-----------------------------------
 1      Collard/F               46
 2      Kelleners/D             35
 3      Malcher/F               34
 4      Mathai/D                32
 5      v.Gartzen/D             26
 6      Becker/D                14
 7      Galimberti/I            11
 8      Simon/D                 10
        Farnbacher/D            10
10      Kulundzic/D              9
        Grohs/D                  9